“PS5 Pro” taking off at $900? Next-gen price hikes are driving people away

The moment I saw these prices I was stunned – is this truly next-gen, or just Judgment Day for our wallets? Firing up a console now feels like being in a livestream auction: first thing they do is smash your mental price ceiling right in front of you, making you wonder if you walked onto the wrong set and accidentally went to buy a graphics card instead.

Let’s start with the leading star: when the disc-drive PS5 first launched it was $500, and now it’s climbed all the way to $650, completely shredding the old “the longer it sells, the cheaper it gets” rulebook. Even wilder is the PS5 Pro: yes, the performance is stronger, but they’ve yanked it straight up to $900. Just seeing that number on the screen, my stream chat would be full of question marks. The consensus in the comments: this isn’t an upgrade, it’s a background check. IGN even said that with hardware prices skyrocketing like this, the weight is falling directly on the lifeline of the whole games industry, and that’s really not an exaggeration.

Now look at the other side: Nintendo, the “family-friendly big brother,” has launched the new Switch 2 at a straight $450, noticeably more painful than the original Switch at launch. Back then, a bit over $300 was at least a threshold a typical family could grit their teeth and squeeze past. Now IGN is calling it out: for most households, buying a console close to $600 for their kid isn’t at the “let’s talk about it” level anymore; it’s “let’s hold a family meeting and pull out the financial reports.” Keep playing it this way and regular players are like people queuing for limited slots, blocked out in rows, with only phones left as the sole entry point.

Here’s the key part: it’s not just consoles going up; the PC side isn’t letting anyone relax either. GPU prices are stuck at the high end like permanent fixtures, RAM and SSDs get “supply shortages” at the drop of a hat, and once you cost out a full build, the budget sheet opens up and the plan goes from “a little upgrade” to “renovating a whole apartment.” The reasons behind this are actually pretty clear: global inflation is pressing down, data centers and AI are devouring chips, and companies still need to protect their profit margins. With those three buffs stacked to the max, of course players end up being the last link picking up the bill. The result: manufacturers raise prices to recoup costs, players are blocked out by high prices, new blood stops coming in, and the industry turns itself into a high-threshold niche circle.

But! With hardware this expensive, platform holders don’t dare mindlessly charge down the tech tree anymore. IGN predicts that “backward compatibility” will become standard practice: whether it’s PS6 or Microsoft’s next-gen Project Helix, they’ll keep machines like the PS5 around as long-term “budget entry-level” options on the shelf. Things are even tougher for developers: for the next several years they’ll have to keep serving old hardware like the PS5, because a huge chunk of players simply can’t afford to upgrade and can only hunker down on the old platform. This brings a side effect: overall graphical and technical progress will be dragged down, and the living space for high-quality, cutting-edge console and PC blockbusters keeps shrinking. Once mobile phones fully become the main traffic gateway, what’s left for these premium titles might be nothing more than a tiny stall in a back corner.

So what should we do as players? Here are a few practical suggestions; I’ve already covered the common questions that barrage me in chat. First, if you already have a PS5 and you’re pretty happy with it, and you don’t have a 4K 120fps obsession, then don’t rush to jump on the PS5 Pro. Keep that $900 saved up; when the PS6 eventually launches, you might be able to pick up a second-hand PS5 as a “budget entry machine” for your family or partner to keep playing on. Second, for those getting in for the first time with a budget around $600, it might be worth waiting to see if there are bundle deals later or further price cuts on older models. If you really want to go all-in on the flagship, you need to be mentally prepared: you’re not just paying for games, you’re paying the hardware tax. Third, for PC players thinking about upgrading their GPU: unless you’re a content creator or a heavy AAA gamer, you can probably hold off for the next year. Put that money into the games themselves or subscription services to diversify what you play, and don’t get fooled by the “fake satisfaction” of new hardware.

To end on a bigger concern: IGN mentioned that if consoles and PCs keep shutting regular people out, the future gaming landscape might be dominated entirely by terrible mobile content. Imagine opening a stream and seeing nothing but digital fireworks built on pay-to-win gacha systems, while those premium titles that need dozens of hours of immersion, narrative, and meticulous detail get pushed to the margins because no one is buying them. That’s the real industry crisis: not who sells more this year, but that ten years from now, a new generation of players may never even get the chance to touch a decent console or learn how stunning AAA games can be. By then, we veterans complaining about $900 today may suddenly realize we were standing at the very tail end of gaming’s golden age, too busy agonizing over an extra hundred or two to notice.